These Images Do Not Show People in Gaza Burning a Donkey Painted as Israeli Flag

Both these images are old and unrelated to each other. They are being falsely shared as recent visuals from Gaza.

(Trigger Warning: Description of disturbing visuals)

A collage of two images is going viral on the internet with a claim that people in Gaza painted a donkey as the Israeli flag and then burnt the animal.

• The first image shows a donkey painted as Israel's flag, while the second one shows a donkey set on fire.

What did the users say?: The post was shared with a caption, which loosely translates to, "Imagine how uncivilized, savages and beasts these people of Gaza are. They made a donkey Israel by putting an Israeli flag on it and then sprinkled petrol on the donkey and burnt it alive. These beasts can never become humans in life."

The post had garnered more than 16,000 views on the platform.

(Archives of similar claims can be found here, here, and here.)

What is the truth?: Both these images are old and unrelated.

• The first image is from a protest in 2011 in West Bank.

• The other one is from 2014, when a donkey was burnt by Palestinians after the animal was allegedly killed by an Israeli airstrike.

IMAGE 1

We performed a simple reverse image and came across the first image uploaded on stock image website, Getty Images.

• Its caption mentioned that Palestinians had painted the donkey as an Israeli flag during a demonstration to support the Palestinian bid at the United Nations on 23 September 2011 in West Bank.

• We found a different image uploaded on stock image website Alamy from the same incident.

• It showed people carrying Palestinian flags while a person could be seen sitting on the donkey painted as an Israeli flag.

IMAGE 2

• A reverse image search led us to the same image uploaded on Getty Images.

• Its caption that the donkey was killed in an Israeli air strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on 6 August 2014. Following the animal's death, Palestinians burnt the donkey.

• The visual was taken while Palestinian and Israeli delegations prepared for talks in Cairo to extend the 72-hour truce.

Conclusion: It is clear that both the images are old and unrelated to each other. They are also being falsely shared as recent visuals from Gaza.

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